Tokyo

Food is life in Tokyo—an expression of social status and exercise in professional clout, even to the point of excess. Finding the most exotic ingredient, knowing the most expensive sushi bar, drinking the rarest foreign wines—these are parts of the city's nervous system. But its belly is in those small eateries specializing in eel dishes or teriyaki or udon noodles or yakitori or nabemono casseroles or tempura. Vast districts like Asakusa, Akasaka (known for its kappo restaurants) and Shinjuku, with its basement stalls, feeds everyone in endless profusion.